Sermon Title: John saw the Spirit which remained on Jesus

Sermon by the Reverend John Young-Jung Lee on January 20, 2008, Second Sunday after Epiphany.

Scripture Reading: John 1:29-42

1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

1:30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'

1:31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel."

1:32 And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

1:33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

1:34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."

1:35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,

1:36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!"

1:37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

1:38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

1:39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.

1:40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

1:41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed).

1:42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).

John saw the Spirit which remained on Jesus

A family is sitting around the breakfast table and the father says, "Well, here we are in a brand new year. I think we should all make some resolutions, don’t you?" Mother said, "O.K. I resolve not to criticize, to nag less and to bake more often." Father said, "I resolve not to lose my temper, and to fix all the things in the house that need repairs." The daughter said, "I resolve to brush Farley (the dog), to keep my room clean and not to fight with Michael." Then the youngest son said, "I resolve to play road hockey, hang out with my friends, and to watch more TV." Mother stoped him and said, "Wait a minute! We all made real promises. Your resolutions are worthless." The little boy replied, "I know...but at least mine will be kept!"

Last Sunday I mentioned that many people, around this time, are planning for the year with New Year’s resolutions. Keeping the resolution is not easy and there are sayings like “a New Year’s resolution hardly lasts beyond the 3rd day.” Today, I would like to ask how are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? Some of you already made one or more and some of you may not have made any yet.

Another thing I shared was to keep in mind our promise to God.  I hope we all may start the new year with hopeful resolutions through our prayer to God for God’s inspiration and guidance. But many people respond that it is difficult  to actually carry out these things.

Like Isaiah, in today’s reading, had cried out to God, many will say, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity." God’s answer to this cry is to give us a greater hope and a greater vision in God’s promise of being with us and empowering us. Can we believe this promise of God that will come to pass? Isaiah believed. Many hear the word of God, but only a few believe. And those who hear and believe can make God’s will to be done in our history. How can we believe that God’s promise will come to pass?  When we project by our common sense, there is no ground that God’s promise will come to pass.

When we are with the Spirit of God and driven by this Spirit, we can tell it will come to pass. Today, we have the story of Jesus’ baptism in our Gospel reading. John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”  How could John testify this? Did he know Jesus before? No. John said, “I myself did not know him.” John said that he saw the Spirit descend and remain on Jesus.  Let us look at ourselves. We confess that God is with us always. What we can tell from this story is that not every one can see the Spirit with us. We know that John had emptied himself.He was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. John had lived the devotional life, searching for God’s will through his whole-hearted prayer.

Let’s take a moment to think of the passage by focusing on what John did. John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” When Jesus was baptized, John testified and said, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.” The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" No one else, but John noticed something different, something special. From Jesus, John saw the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. No one else, but John saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Jesus.  What made the difference of John from others?

It is John’s devotional life, the life of prayer, the life of self-emptying. This life enabled John to see something beyond what seems to be true. When we empty ourselves and pray to God persistently and pray for God’s inspiration, we can see beyond what we see at the surface. I am glad that we see beyond what we see in our ministry. In our past history of DPUC, we had good old days. We had exciting good plans year after year, short and long term goals and many other plans, for our church and neighbouring communities. But from some time, our society has changed, people’s lifestyle has changed. Membership declined and the economy shrank. When we see what has appeared to the eyes of the world, it is a crisis.

Some people involved in inner city ministry say that they have to be ready for the end time. Do we agree with this notion? No. This is the point where the people of faith and people of no faith split.

We faithfully journeyed together, driven by the Spirit, as we reveal God’s work to be done. When we look back on the last few years, we have had many joys. But like Isaiah in today’s reading, in several occasions we have said, “I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity."

But we did not end with this. In the midst of our difficulties, we all have affirmation of hope that lies beyond what we see.  We have kept our vision for the neighbouring community and for the world. 

We have been confident that we were faithful servants of God. We courageously proclaimed the good news to every corner of our neighbouring community.  Led by the Spirit, John the Baptist finds Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Led by the Spirit, John saw the Spirit which remained on Jesus. Led by the Spirit, John saw what the mission of God is. Led by the Spirit, we are called to join in this great mission. Led by the Spirit, we see that there is an enormous amount of work to be done through the church, the people of God. In God, when we are led by the Spirit, any dream, vision and plan cannot be too big for us.  Nothing is too big and nothing is impossible.  

We are here today, because we were called. Led by the Spirit, we are here today. We learn from today’s Old Testament reading, Isaiah is blessed by hearing God’s word of comfort and support. "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant.”  But here is a point that we should not miss. Isaiah did not hear God’s words of promise until he struggled and confessed that "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity." Now in this season of Epiphany, as we begin the new year, we make our resolution for ourselves and for the church. Let’s not assume that we can plan perfectly according to our reasons. Let’s not plan based only on our capability. Let us plan, led by the Spirit, with our faith in God, trust in God, and give some room for God so as to make our burden too light. Let us invite the Holy Spirit to work in our plan and dream for the future.  

Led by the Spirit, John saw the Spirit coming down like a dove and  remained on Jesus. Led by the Spirit, we see what God’s work to be done through our church and through us. My hope in the beginning of this year is all of us to hear God’s Word, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant.” We can see the hope of the future only when we  are led by the Spirit. We can say “yes” only when we are led by the Spirit. And as we say “yes” to God’s call, we will know that God’s work, God’s promise is a blessing for all of us. Thanks be to God! Amen.